Dreamcatcher
by Yami Mori
Summary: Oneshot: Nightmares plague Ritsuka and Soubi thinks he might have the perfect solution. RitsukaSoui


-I do not own Loveless. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy, and I pray that you all will forgive me for any typo's that I missed. Please leave a review( I don't mind criticism as long as it is _helpful_)! They make me happy and help me to write more!

Dreamcatcher

Ritsuka knew he didn't have a chance of stopping the monstrous yawn that was threatening to erupt from his mouth as he walked away from his school. Even as he brought a hand up to his mouth to cover it, feeling his sleek black ears lay flat against his raven hair, he was fighting it to the end, making what had to be funny and strange faces as he attempted to keep his mouth shut. He didn't have to look to know that Yuiko's eyes were glued to him in worry.

Thankfully, she didn't say anything.

She'd been bugging him all week due to his steady decline in a healthy sleeping pattern. The violet eyed boy would arrive to class with deep, dark circles cradling his tired eyes, a certain slowness about the way he moved that spoke of his low energy levels, and the loss of luster in his usually lovely noir hair. That, coupled with the fact that the moment class began his head was on the desk and Ritsuka turned all but responsive, was causing the boys friends to become worried. His teacher was also beginning to become alarmed at Ritsuka's sudden change. She had even tried to talk to him, figure out what was going on with her student, what was happening to the boy. But she wasn't trying to push too much. His mother had just been admitted into the hospitals psychiatric ward two weeks prior. Then there was the fact that his brother had died recently too.

And she had to admit, that was enough to trouble any child his age. She had absolutely no idea what exactly went through the boys mind.

Ritsuka shifted his violet eyes up to the gate and, sure enough, a tall blonde was waiting there, leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette as though there weren't middle-schoolers every where heading home. The boy felt a mixture of relief and annoyance at the sight of his fighter unit. Soubi hadn't been there to pick him up in over a week due to tests, projects, and homework. The blonde would have been, if it had been Soubi's choice, but a sharp order from the Loveless sacrifice stopped him. Ritsuka didn't want Soubi's grades to drop because he was spending time with him, so he had ordered Soubi to focus only on doing well on his exams, instead of on Ritsuka, at least until everything was over.

And due to the fact that the blonde fighter was here, exams must be over.

Ritsuka wouldn't be able to hide his problem now.

"Oh! Look Ritsuka-kun!" squealed the boys female friend. "It's Soubi-san!"

Ritsuka didn't say anything, but did head in the direction of the older blonde. When he was only a few feet away, Soubi's head raised and turned to see raven haired boy, the beginnings of a small smile on his lips. The moment Soubi saw the condition of his young sacrifice, his pale blue eyes hardened and a slight frown took over the smile.

"Soubi-san! I haven't seen you in forever!" said Yuiko excitedly as she all but bounced up to the tall college student. The man gave a small smile to the girl and chuckled.

"It's only been a week," he spoke softly before turning his attention back to Ritsuka. The violet eyed boy refused to meet his fighters gaze and just kept on walking until he was right next to Soubi.

"Lets go somewhere, Soubi," was all the boy said before dropping his hand into Soubi's larger one. The blonde just gave that familiar Soubi brand smile.

"Whatever you want, Ritsuka. Where do you want to go?"

"Oh! Can Yuiko-chan come too?" asked the girl quickly, hopefully with large eyes, but Soubi kindly shook his head. The energetic girl frowned and moaned in displeasure, but nodded in agreement. Before she left, while Ritsuka wasn't looking, she sent a worried look to the older man, telling him that she was very worried about her friend. Soubi just nodded and smiled understandingly and, with the violet eyed boys hand securely in his, began to walk away.

The girl just stood there, watching as her friend and his strange older friend began to walk away. Then she smiled and turned on her heel, worry free. She knew that if anyone could help Ritsuka, it would be Soubi. He always knew just what to do to make Ritsuka happy again, so she began her trip home, all the while planning just what she was going to do once she got there. Maybe make that jam that Ritsuka liked so much?

The Loveless unit moved in silence, the young sacrifice with his tired violet eyes trained on the ground as he allowed his stronger fighter unit to lead him where ever he wished. Soubi said nothing as well. He knew his partner would speak when he felt like it, plus it didn't take a genius to figure out that his young sacrifice hadn't been getting the sleep he so desperately needed. Ritsuka was acting like a zombie, looked the part too, and Soubi wanted to figure out the reason, or cause.

Soubi smiled down at Ritsuka. "It looks like it's going to rain."

The boy only nodded a head tiredly, not even bothering to, one look up and see that today was an absolutely gorgeous, although cold, day, and two, tell him to stop lying. The Loveless fighter frowned. Whatever it was that was bothering the raven haired boy, it was worse than he thought.

Ritsuka almost jumped ten feet when his blonde partner gently stroked one of his silky cat-like ears, then grimaced, looking up at Soubi with slightly angry purple eyes.

"What did you do that for?"

The man shrugged his shoulders good naturedly and smiled. "A fly. I was just removing it for you." Ritsuka immediately doubted this claim, but didn't say anything. He was just so tired. Why couldn't Soubi leave him alone for once, especially now?

The larger hand in his began tugging him, and he followed in a tired haze until he realized that Soubi had sat him down on a bench in the quieter, more isolated side of the park. Weariness, annoyance, and a slight sense of dread kisses his consciousness and he watched as his fighter sat next to him smoothly. Why of all places had Soubi taken him _here_? It was so nice and peaceful here, he'd fall asleep in an instant!

He couldn't allow himself fall asleep. He _wouldn't_.

"The park?" questioned Ritsuka. "Why didn't we go to the coffee shop you like, or the mall, or something?"

Pale blue eyes regarded him closely. "Because, Ritsuka, you're tired. I thought a nice, quiet park would be better for you than anywhere else. Lay down here and rest."

The boy shook his head quickly. He could feel his eyelids getting heavier just at the phrase 'lay down' and his body ached to do just that. He had to find a way to stay awake.

"I'm not tired! And what if someone attacks us again?" The boy was trying to seem lively and awake, but the whole effect was ruined by a yawn he couldn't contain. Soubi just lifted an eyebrow at his statement, and the violet eyed boy felt his cheeks heat up in slight embarrassment.

"You're tired," the blonde reiterated, "and I can take care of anyone who dares to attack us. Lay down and _sleep_." He paused, and then added, gently, "Trust me, Ritsuka. Nothing is going to happen to you. I won't let anyone touch you."

The boy looked up at his fighter with big, uncertain violet eyes and slowly nodded before arranging himself along the length of the bench to rest his head on Soubi's lap. Then he closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

Silence and the soft touch of Soubi's gentle fingers through his noir hair caused Ritsuka to relax a bit, but only a little. He wasn't going to sleep if he could help it, and Soubi wouldn't know if he was just pretending to sleep. No one else ever noticed when he was pretending. Maybe he could avoid all the unspoken questions if he could fool his fighter. Just maybe ….

"I know you're not asleep, Ritsuka."

The boy contemplated not reacting, but after a moment admitted defeat and let out a long sigh before opening his tired eyes to look up at the pale blue ones above him. Concern was evident in those familiar sky eyes.

"Why aren't you sleeping, Ritsuka?"

Ritsuka looked away and off into the distance where he could see the dark autumn tree line, and contemplated just what to say to his fighter unit. After a long moment he realized that he should go ahead and tell Soubi, or risk the college student finding out for himself, and Ritsuka knew that that road would only cause his problem to escalate into a full scale mess.

"I can't sleep, Soubi," he admitted quietly, and he felt Soubi's fingers gently trail around the base of his sleek cat ears.

"Why is that, Ritsuka?" came the older man's soft question. "What has been bothering you?"

The boy shrugged. "I've been having nightmares for a week now. They haven't been letting me sleep." Ritsuka paused, then added softly, "most of the time, I wake up almost screaming." He was shaking a little now at the memory of a few of the terrifying nightmares that had been plaguing him, and he couldn't help but curl up into a small ball next to Soubi.

Soubi just continued to stroke his soft cat-like ears comfortingly.

"Do you know why you're having them? What they're about?"

The raven haired boy shook his head against Soubi's leg. "No. It's just me, and mom, sometimes Seimei." Ritsuka felt Soubi's leg flinch at the sound of his brother's name, but pretended not to notice and continued, "But mostly, it's me and … another me. The old Ritsuka."

Soubi listened patiently as the boy spoke, simply petting the sleek ears on Ritsuka's head to let him know that he had his undivided attention.

"He tells me that I'm going to turn out like mom, that it's because of me that she's crazy and that I should be the crazy one locked away in the hospital. That everyone would be happier if I were locked away, that everything would be fixed and perfect if I were out of the picture." He stopped, and so did Soubi. "He told me that I shouldn't even exist. That I don't have a right to."

Neither said anything for a long, heavy moment, and then the college student began stroking those soft ears again and quietly asked, "Do you believe that, Ritsuka?"

The question was one that the boy had been spent the better part of two years trying to figure out, and with his mother now in the Psych Ward in the local hospital, he was beginning to question himself again, this time relentlessly.

"Yes," he replied honestly, "sometimes I do. I mean, this all started when I lost my memory and became … me. I'm the cause of so much trouble and suffering, and I took over the old Ritsuka's life. Wouldn't it be better if I wasn't here, Soubi? Wouldn't everyone be better off without me around?"

Soubi simply looked down at his Loveless. He looked so small, so troubled and afraid, like an abandoned and abused kitten. His sleek black tail was wrapped tightly around his leg, and his soft ears pressed against his head, as if trying to disappear into the silky raven mass.

He was broken, and trying desperately not to break again.

With gentle hands, he easily lifted the ball of Ritsuka onto his lap and smiled. "I wouldn't be better off without you, Ritsuka." It was a very true statement, although he doubted that the boy understood the intensity of it. Life before Ritsuka was like being the moon to an Earth that had no sun. Silent and dark, in existence, but with no will to live, without true purpose. Ritsuka lit up the darkness like the sun, exposing him for who he truly was, giving him life _and_ a purpose with which to live it.

If _this_ Ritsuka didn't exist, he wouldn't either.

"But what about everyone else?" spoke the boy meekly. "My mom? My old life?"

"And what about everyone in this life? What about the people who love you now, as you are now?" Soubi retorted as he rubbed the boys small back comfortingly. "If you changed into the old Ritsuka, we would all be sad because the Ritsuka _we_ believe existed would be gone and replaced with an imposter that _we_ don't know." He took a moment to gently rub a knot out of violet eyed boys shoulder before continuing. "The same would be the case if you just disappeared. We would all be sad."

The boy didn't look like he was all that convinced, so Soubi pulled the boy into the warmest, most reassuring hug he could, though a part of the blonde wondered if he was even capable of such a human thing, after everything that he, himself, had done. The fighter was rewarded, though, by the gentle pressure of Ritsuka sinking into the comforting gesture.

"You're not going to turn out to be like you're mother either, Ritsuka," spoke the powerful fighter as the boy pressed his head into the crook of Soubi's neck. "You're not crazy, nor are you showing psychotic tendencies." He paused and looked down at his sacrifice. "As a matter of fact, you are usually stopping all of _my_ psychotic tendencies."

The comment earned a small chuckle out of the raven haired sacrifice, then the boy asked quietly, "but what about my nightmares, Soubi? I've tried everything to make them go away, but they just seem to keep coming back. I'm afraid to go to sleep."

As the blonde looked at the boy in his lap, an idea began to form in his mind. He didn't really know why he hadn't thought of it earlier, actually, considering the unit he was studying in his art history class. Suddenly, a strong smile touched his lips, and gently he disengaged Ritsuka from his body, standing him up in front of him. Ritsuka's eyes were red and teary and his shoulders hunched forward a little. Soubi just looked at him brightly.

"I have some things that I need to do now, Ritsuka, something that I think will help you with your nightmare problem. Go home, and I'll be by later." Interest and curiosity shown in the boys misty violet eyes.

"What is it, Soubi?"

Soubi just smiled as he stood, towering over his sacrifice, rubbing the boys' tears away with a thumb before softly kissing his forehead.

"You'll see, Ritsuka. I'll see you later."

And with that, Ritsuka watched a little confused as Soubi walked away, disappearing into the chaos known as sidewalk traffic. Then the young sacrifice turned on his heel and slowly began walking away too.

The afternoon dragged by agonizingly for Ritsuka as he waited, with dread, for night time to return and bring with it all the nightmares he feared, and with curiosity and anticipation for whatever it was that Soubi was doing that would help with the nightmares.

Now that his mother was in the hospital, it was just him and his father, and he was gone most of the time, so the house was all his. He didn't have to worry about coming home anymore and getting hit, or go through another of his mothers fits. But it was lonely. It was just him in the house. He had to cook for himself, clean the house himself, tell himself that it was time for him to do his homework and go to bed.

It was just him, and it was lonely.

So, he tried to stay away from the house, spend his time studying outside, or research out at the library, spend time with Yuiko, or Yayoi, something like that. But at the end of the day, it was always an empty house he returned home to, and it scared him just as much as the nightmares did, in some ways. Sometimes he wished his dad was home more often, but then it would be more like sharing a house with a stranger. He didn't really know his dad, and his dad didn't really know him.

There was only Soubi.

Ritsuka didn't know what to think when it came to his relationship with the blonde fighter. On one hand, Soubi was always comforting him, protecting him, keeping him company, kissing him … telling him that he loved him. He wanted to believe that Soubi did all of that just because he wanted to, because he really felt that way, but he couldn't help but wonder if it was all because his older brother had told him to. Then, of course, there was the fact that Soubi was always lying to him, withholding information, and sometimes blatantly ignoring an order. The older man was just so confusing! The boy never knew what his fighter was going to do next.

So, when Soubi walked into his room later that night as he was getting ready for bed, carrying a small plastic bag, he couldn't say he was all that surprised. Soubi just sat on the floor, after taking off his coat and setting it on the back of Ritsuka's desk chair, and began pulling a few things out of the bag, organizing them around himself. Ritsuka simply continued to towel dry his damp hair. He couldn't stand going to bed with wet hair. It gave him headaches.

Soubi didn't speak as he picked up a small ring wrapped in black suede cord and a long piece of what looked like string, and tied off an end. Then he started to loop the string around the ring, and after a short time, itself. He moved in a circular direction and just kept on looping the string, round and round.

The boy was mesmerized as he watched the college student work the thread through itself in a continuous pattern, occasionally pulling the string a little so he could find the next hole to loop through, and didn't stop until the series of loops began to look like a loose spider's web. Then Soubi wrapped the thread around his hand a couple of times, and pulled the string taunt.

As the fighter pulled, the web began to become more defined and sharp, pulling into a small circle in the center of the ring, the thread quivering at how tightly it was being drawn. Ritsuka gasped. It was beautiful.

"What is it, Soubi?" Ritsuka eventually couldn't help but ask. He had maneuvered his small body until he hung over his fighter like a shadow, trying to get a better look at the object he was making.

Soubi smiled to his sacrifice as he continued to pull even tighter, intent on making the hole in the center as small as he possibly could. "It's a dreamcatcher, Ritsuka. Native Americans in North America used to make them."

The boys' noir eyebrows shot up into his hair in surprise. "What are they for?" he questioned, then quickly added, "and how do you know how to make one?"

A chuckle erupted quietly from the Loveless fighter. "Dreamcatchers are simple to make. We were going over them in the unit I've been testing over for the past week, so I thought I'd try. As for what they are for, well, they are used for dream catching."

The boy looked into the pale blue eyes of the older man, not amused. "Really?" he asked sarcastically. "Thanks Soubi. That answered all of my questions."

"You're very sarcastic when you're tired," pointed out Soubi, and Ritsuka glared.

"I kind of got the use from the name, Soubi," said the boy as he tried to bite back another sarcastic comment.

"Yes, well, you still asked me. If you had known, why ask?" countered the man before he knotted the thread and cut it. "There are actually a few different legends when it comes to deamcatchers, but basically, a dreamcatcher is used to catch bad dreams in the web," he ran his long artesian fingers over the tight web, "and allow the good ones to flow through the small hole in the center."

The boys' curiosity was piqued, but so was his premature skepticism. He was weary to believe that the webbed ring would stop his nightmares. If they were, supposedly, so effective, then why weren't they being sold to stop nightmares? Over the week, he had looked up every possible treatment for nightmares, and he hadn't once heard of this one.

Soubi must have seen the skepticism in the young sacrifice, because he smiled to his partner after he began threading another piece of suede around the bottom of the ring until it hung like two uneven tails. Then he began to slide small wooden beads onto the tails.

"You said you've tried everything, and nothing worked," said the blonde softly, "why not try this too? You've got nothing to lose, right?"

"Only another night of sleep," muttered the boy, slightly irritated, but he didn't stop Soubi as he continued to work on the strange charm. Soon the artist was adding long feathers to the tails before finally standing and tacking the charm on the wall, above his pillow. The finished product was beautiful, though it clashed somewhat with the general décor of his room, and he looked to thank the man when he saw that Soubi's hand was bleeding a little, the hand that had pulled the string.

"You're bleeding, Soubi!" exclaimed the boy softly as he took his fighters hand in his to look at the small wound on the outer side of his palm and the crease of his pinky. "You pulled the string too much." The violet eyed sacrifice reached into his drawer and pulled out some band-aids that he kept handy there, for instances like this one, just in case. Quickly, he wrapped the small cuts.

"It had to be tight, Ritsuka," explained the man as he threaded his bandaged hand into the small one of his partners, "the tighter the web, the more effective the catcher. A little blood is a small price to pay for your sleep."

Ritsuka was speechless, then shook his head in disapproval as he turned off the light and slid under his covers.

"Masochist."

A soft chuckle was the only response as Soubi gathered up his supplies and stood to pick up his coat. Ritsuka watched as the tall shadow that was Soubi paused and turned to look at him.

"Would you like me to stay, Ritsuka?" Honestly, the boy did, but half of him was telling him not to let the man stay. He had school tomorrow, and what if Soubi did something perverted and tried to take his ears?

But the thought of staying another night in an empty house, alone with only his dark thoughts to keep himself company, was enough to overwhelm the combative part of him and the boy looked up at the shadowed man.

"Stay. That's an order."

Wordlessly, Soubi set his bag of art supplies down on the desk and slid in next to the boy, tugging him close before kissing the raven haired boy first on the lips, then the forehead softly.

"Sleep, Ritsuka. I'll stop your nightmares."

"I thought that was what the dreamcatcher was for?" mumbled the boy as sleep slid its tendrils into his tired mind.

"It is," said the blonde. "I'm here as reinforcements. Now sleep."

And he did.

In the morning, he was happy to report that his sleep had been nightmare free, due to the dreamcatcher or Soubi, he didn't know, but kept to himself that the dreams that he _did_ have had been filled with pale blue eyes and long blonde hair.

-Hope you enjoyed it! Reviews make me happy and help me write!


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